Nothing But A Lot To Lose
by Hard Kandi
Summary: Max & Alec (You don't know what love is until you've kissed and had to pay the cost).
1. Default Chapter

Disclaimer: Whatever.

**Nothing But A Lot To Lose**

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_Song "Bon Jovi / Everyday"_

_I used to be the kind of guy_

_Who never let you look inside_

_I'd smile when I was crying_

_I had nothing but a lot to lose_

_Thought I had a lot to prove_

_In my life there's no denying_

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"Hey Maxie did we have a date", Alec stood there wearing nothing but his blue towel, secured loosely at his waist. Water cascading down his golden chest, pooling into a central point, ending, Max quickly averted her eyes, not willing to go there.

She was breathing heavily; he must have just come out of the shower. She couldn't speak, not because the bite she had just taken from the cookie was stuck in her mouth, but because she couldn't work up any saliva, her mouth was completely dry, shit! Was her tongue hanging out? 

Alec took a step towards her. Max backed up, looking down she saw her right hand was trembling, the remnants of the cookie crushed to pieces between her fingers, bits of it falling to the floor. Alec followed her glance taking in the trembling of her hand. 

"What's wrong Maxie, look at me", he reached for her hand, concern clouding his expression, Max tried to resist him, well her mind did her body however just wasn't co-operating. Her left hand reached out to ward him off, connecting with his bare chest, his flesh was firm and hot to her touch, Max groaned, her stomach back flipped and her heart thumped loudly in her chest. She was breathing hard and fast, lifting her head, she stared at him loosing herself in his soulful eyes. She tried to look away but his eyes held her, pulled her in, she was trapped. Her hand slipped downwards connecting with the knot of the towel

"Max wake up", she jumped straight out of bed, her face flushed and her chest rising and falling rapidly, taking a second to come too. It was just a dream, why did she feel, so, disappointed?. 

Alec was watching the emotions play across her face. "Thought you didn't sleep Maxie", she refused to look at him, the intensity of the dream still fresh in her mind. Would it show in her eyes, to be on the safe side she kept her eyes on the ground. Alec looked around taking in the rumpled sheets, her flushed face and messed up hair, he smiled "hmm looks like someone was having a nice dream, wanna share". Max kept her eyes firmly on the ground; "didn't anyone ever tell you it's no fun playin alone". Smack, Max's hand connected with his head, pushing past him she stormed into the bathroom. Slamming the door behind her.

Alec grinned rubbing his throbbing head, musta hit a nerve. 

"It was just a dream, just a stupid dream, doesn't mean anything", Max repeated the words to herself over and over as she splashed cold water on her face. A minute later she emerged from the bathroom to find Alec lounging on her bed, she groaned inwardly, oh god someone must really have it in for me. "Get up" she yelled at him, Alec jumped to his feet, unprepared for the harshness in her voice, his eyebrows shot upwards. What the hell, had she gone crazy? 

Max took a deep breath to steady herself, "what the hell do you want", "nice to see you too Maxie, you know you always make me feel so, he paused as if searching for the right word, welcome". Before he'd got the last word out Max spun on her heel and walked out the bedroom. Alec followed her, "you know I'm sure I was talking, my lips were moving and sound was coming out". Max cut him "you're always talking what's new".

"Hey, I offered to communicate with you in another language", the expression on his face left her in no doubt as to what kinda language he was referring to. Whack Max's hand reached out faster than the speed of light and connected with his shoulder, the force knocking him a fraction of an inch backwards. "Pain is the only language I wanna communicate with you in, got it". 

Alec swallowed, for a second he almost didn't respond, but hey he had to live up to his namesake, besides he liked to see her angry, full of passion. "You know what the other side of that coin is don't you, pleasure". The words were outta his mouth before his brain could make the connection that maybe he should quit while he was still upright. "Logan got a heads up on those x-series captured by the police", he spoke quickly, whilst backing away from her. 

Max stepped towards him then hesitated, this was more important than killing him. She turned towards her closet, pulling out some clothes to put on, feeling him grin, "fine I'll kick your ass later". Alec breathed a sigh of relief, much as he enjoyed their little battles his poor body needed a break. "Deal, I'll fill you in as we go".

Outside Max turned towards her baby, Alec stopped her, taking her arm and turning her in the direction of a black van "we're taking that". Max looked at in disgust, screwing up her face "where the hell did you dig that up from". Alec shrugged "it was all I could get at such short notice, besides we need it to transport the X's in". 

Max sighed, she just knew it was gonna be a long night, she shrugged his hand off her arm & flounced off heading towards the van, muttering under her breath. Even with his enhanced hearing all Alec could manage to make out was "figures" and something that sounded suspiciously like "asshole". He shrugged too busy enjoying the view as Max's hips swayed before him. 

Max stopped abruptly in front of the van, Alec due to the fact that his mind was elsewhere failed to stop with her and ploughed into her from behind. His hands reached out to steady himself at the same time Max swung round to face him. Instead of connecting with her back his hands connected with two soft fleshy mounds. Max jumped back as though she had been burnt & her mouth opened and closed a few times as she tried to form words. 

She saw the smirk as it flashed across his face, before quickly being replaced with a look of earnest innocence. Alec raised his hands in the air, "Max it was an acci". Thump, shut up I don't wanna hear it just get in the van so we can get this over with. 

Alec groaned in pretend pain and turned to unlock the van using the short time to compose himself. Damn she felt good, pity she was such a bitch!

******Reviews Always Welcome******


	2. Pay Attention

A/N: To those who reviewed the last chapter Thank You for your wonderful comments. : ) 

This chapter is dedicated to all those writers of Max/Alec Fics you keep me sane when my world is crazy. PS; Nuns With Pens have some of the best Alec fics I have ever read. 

Max sat woodenly in the passenger seat staring straight ahead, she ignored Alec as he put the car in gear & headed North. After a few seconds of silence Alec began to speak filling Max in on the mission ahead. Logan had gotten the information from one of his contacts, and unable to get hold of Max had called Alec thinking Max was most probably with him. 

Four X5's had been captured the day before trying to sneak into the City. They were being held in an old army base on the outskirts of the City under heavily armed guard. They were to be transferred to a more secure location tomorrow, making this there only chance to break them out. Two of them had been injured whilst trying to avoid capture, how badly though was unclear. The rest of the Intel was just as sketchy although Logan had managed to get a blueprint of the building they were being held in. 

Half an hour later they reached their location; a grey rectangular shaped concrete building stretching as wide as a football pitch. The building was surrounded by a forest enclosed in a 20-foot high-electrified fence. Max practically fell out of the van in relief. Alec had kept up his yapping the whole way. Max wondered why he didn't just yap the enemy to death; it would sure save them a whole lot of time and effort. Her lips curved evilly at the thought. 

Alec watched as Max sprang out of the van, what was up with her tonight? She was as jumpy as a cat; hmm maybe her feline DNA was working overtime. He waited, no response, "well". His words broke Max from her reverie. "Well what", "I'm waiting for an answer". Max's face crinkled in consternation, {_an answer to what} had he asked her something, she searched her brains, coming up short she looked at him in confusion._

Alec sighed shaking his head, "honestly Max, what is up with you tonight? You might wanna try paying attention, after all not paying attention is not paying attention it could get us killed"! Max looked at him hard, her hand itching to connect with his head; she controlled herself……  barely. 

The Grand Master of ADD was telling HER to pay attention. The itch grew stronger as she watched his face, the enjoyment of having reversed their roles apparent in his expression. She sighed and counted to 50 in her head……

"Seeing as I'm the older one here I'm gonna let that remark slide and lead by example". Alec laughed shrugging his shoulders "the older one here! Come on Max don't let a couple of embryo's go to your head".

This time she counted to 100; nope it wasn't working 'she was gonna have to hit him'. She tried taking deep breaths concentrating on everything but the smug expression on the face of the pain in the ass that was standing in front of her. 

She didn't understand how he always managed to get under her skin, what was wrong with her? Why did she let him play her like she was some kind of damn fiddle? Max shook the thoughts off; time enough for reflection later right now she needed to concentrate on the job at hand. Finally managing to gather her composure she spat out "right let's go".  

Before Alec could respond they were startled by the sound of gunfire followed by a scream. For a brief second they stared at each other and then in silent communication nodded and raced in the direction of the scream, with all the incredible speed their transgenic ability gave them. Adrenaline pushing them on as they plunged through the night Black Forest. Breaking branches and crushing bushes please don't let them be too late was the resonating thought that raced through Max's mind. She had enough blood on her hands and each transgenic that was killed because she had set them free was only adding to that tally. 

Upon reaching their destination they were met with the sight of 4 armed guards who had obviously been enjoying target practice with one of the X-Series they had captured. Not breaking stride the two transgenics jumped the 20-foot fence that separated them from the guards. 

Alec dove straight in low and fast knocking two of the guards off their feet. They hit the ground hard in a tangle of limbs; before they could react he delivered two perfectly aimed blows to their heads rendering them unconscious. Turning back he saw that Max had taken care of the other two guards just as effectively. 

Alec raced over to the injured X5, who was lying on the floor unmoving as he got closer he could see blood trickling from the side of her mouth as well as from the wound on her stomach. He knelt down and drew back in shock recognising the injured girl X5562; she had been in his old unit back at Manticore. He quickly checked for signs of life, Max gave a sigh of relief as he signalled to show he'd found it.

Alec gently took the injured girl into his arms and whispered soothing words to her, Max watched experiencing a short but unpleasant burst of jealousy. To distract herself from her thoughts she signalled to Alec she was going on ahead into the compound & for him to take the injured X5 back to the van. He signalled back angrily telling her to wait for him but Max was gone. Alec cursed under his breath in frustration before attending to the girl in his arms; he gathered her up and blurred towards the van. He worked quickly wrapping her stomach to stem the bleeding before heading back to find Max.

Max moved sure-footedly through the darkness, constantly scanning the area around her senses acutely aware of every nuance. She reached the compound without incident and made short work of the electrified entrance door. Once inside she was met by the sight of a single armed guard gun raised pointed at her head. She smiled at him before blurring towards him and disarming him. 

She Rained blows on his head till she staggered him, and then spun and kicked him in the head, pulling him back against the concrete wall, before he could recover she slammed her foot into his neck holding it there. "The prisoners, where are they being held?" the guard shook his head and Max increased the pressure of her foot on his neck, cutting off his air supply. She waited 45 seconds and then eased up "last time I'm gonna ask", the guard spluttered gasping for air; "they're being held in the lower level". 

Max slowly brought her foot away from his neck and replaced it with her hand, turning him around she twisted his left hand behind his back and forced him to lead the way. Together they descended downwards until they reached an iron door, the guard stopped, "they're in there". 

Max listened not hearing anything out of the ordinary she motioned for him to unlock the door and followed him inside. Still not sensing any movement Max continued on and was greeted by the sight of 20 armed guards whose rifles were all trained on her. She froze; _{if she got out of this one alive Alec was never gonna let her live it down}. _

Alec, Max sensed his presence even though he hadn't made a sound, she signalled for him to retreat, no point in both of them being captured. 

Alec surveyed the scene below him; Max was surrounded he watched as she signalled for him to retreat, _{yeah right, like leaving her there __was even an option}. He ran a hand through his hair assessing his alternatives; some sort of action was called for before the situation got anymore out of hand. _

Working quickly he pulled the equipment from his bag, firing it into the air he watched as it hit the rafters on the other side of the room and embedded itself in a beam. The activity below him shutting out the sound. He pulled on it slightly; testing to confirm it would hold. "Oh well here goes nothing" and with that he launched himself into the air gun in hand. The guards watched in shock at the sight of the figure dressed from head to toe in black gun in hand flying through the air. Before they could react he squeezed off a couple of rounds hitting eight of the guards in the shoulder attached to the hands that had previously held their guns. 

Max reacted automatically knocking the guards nearest to her unconscious before jumping into the air and grabbing onto Alec. The two of them swung to safety, but not before two of the remaining guards managed to fire at them. Two of the bullets successfully hitting their target. 

Max felt Alec's body recoil at the impact, they let go of the rope dropping in tandem and rolling out of the line of fire. Max turned to Alec in panic, he held up a hand indicating he was ok, but Max watched in horror as the crimson stains on both his upper and lower body spread outwards soaking into the black fabric of his clothes. 

Alec transferred his gun into his left hand and turned his back on Max, taking aim at the remaining guards. "Go get the X5's I'll finish up here". Max hesitated torn between wanting to make sure he was really ok and wanting to do as he said. Alec ignored her operating in full soldier mode his concentration centred on taking out the remaining guards one by one. 

Max moved off reaching the three remaining prisoners she freed them and indicated for them to follow her out. Other than a few cuts and bruises they appeared to be unharmed and followed her without question. They made there way back to Alec who was leaning against the entrance door the wounds in his shoulder and upper thigh bleeding profusely. Assisted by Max and the other X5's they managed to get him back to the van and placed him in the back next to the injured girl he had rescued earlier. Max jumped in the drivers seat and proceeded to break all known speed limits in her haste to get back to Terminal City. 

In the back of the van one of the X5's attended to the injured girl whilst another attended to Alec. Applying pressure to his wounds trying to stem the flow of blood. "Sir, permission to speak". Through his pain Alec grinned {_old habit's die hard}, "it's Alec now". The X5 grinned ruefully. "Sorry Sir", Alec raised an eyebrow, "Sorry Alec". The name felt uncomfortable on his tongue. _

He silently appraised the man in front of him, his once Commanding Officer from back at Manticore, taking in the pallor of his skin and his ragged breathing. "What's our ETA"? "5 minutes" Max answered "how they doing". "I'm alright " Alec replied "nothing that a stiff drink wouldn't cure". Max rolled her eyes {_one of these days she was __gonna!}. "What's our destination?" the X5 who had spoken earlier asked. Max quickly filled him in on TC. _

Moment's later Max stopped the van and jumped out, they had reached TC. Dragging Alec from the van she left the others to be attended by the welcoming party that had met them on arrival.

She dragged him over to the nearest table, pushing him down so he rested on the edge, "ass hole"; she muttered I told you to retreat. Alec opened his mouth to protest, "shut up"; her hands were clenched into fists at her side. Her body was shaking. {_What the hell was wrong with her, hadn't he just saved her ass, yeah and nearly got himself killed in the process.} _

Max took a deep breath "I need to examine your shoulder". Alec opened his mouth to protest, "one word and your gonna be in a world of hurt", what like he wasn't already. "Take off your shirt", Alec sighed, and started to pull the shirt up over his head, a half moan, half groan escaped his mouth.

Max was scared, what no comment about how she just wanted to see his naked chest, he must be hurt worse than he'd let on, served him right. She leant in close helping him with the shirt; Alec could feel her warm breath as she probed his upper body, the scent of her invaded his senses and he shivered closing his eyes as feelings he couldn't control stirred in him. 

Max moved on prodding his wounded shoulder. Alec saw stars, "shit Max", "that hurt does it", "no", "maybe a little", "ow". Max ignored him "ok I need to look at your legs…  wounded leg"; "what!" "Take your pants off", there was no way he was taking them off, he might be hurt but he was still a man, well a tran-man and he didn't want her to see what kind of reaction his body was having to her touching him. 

"Come on Alec let's see the goodies", he looked at her, she had a wicked glint in her eyes. "Your enjoying this aren't you". An evil laugh escaped her mouth, "what's the matter Rock Star afraid your gonna disappoint". 

****************REVIEWS ALWAYS WELCOME****************


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